In a Uganda long accustomed to provocative social media flurry from Army Chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, two recent developments shocked even the most cynical observers. On the night of 27 June, the general ordered the closure of two leading independent outlets: the Daily Monitor and NTV Uganda, both owned by Kenya’s Nation Media Group. Days earlier, soldiers staged a midnight raid to snatch Kampala’s Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, who doubles as lead counsel for jailed opposition heavyweight Dr Kizza Besigye.
As troops sealed the media houses’ Kampala premises, the general posted on X: “In Uganda, I do not believe in a free press! The press should be guided by cadres of the revolution.” He claimed his father authorised him in 2017 to shutter “ANY media house.”
Throughout Lukwago’s detention, he maintained a mocking online commentary, boasting he had “captured a fool and taken him to the basement.” Posting photos of the blindfolded politician, he taunted: “This one needs diapers; he has peed himself like a baby.” He also cited past instances of brutal interrogation of activists in that facility. Later reports suggested the mistreatment was exaggerated, but the spectacle triggered chilling comparisons with Idi Amin’s era of arbitrary detentions and public humiliation.
Pushing back against claims of erratic behaviour, he posted on 15 June 2026: “Ugandans are beginning to understand that there is a method to the madness. The so-called “madness” is the strategic clarity required to secure our future.”
He is right. Dismissing these theatrics as mere antics misses a broader political blueprint. This volatility serves a distinct function within President Yoweri Museveni’s 40-year rule.
A 1 July meeting between Muhoozi and his long-time associate journalist Andrew Mwenda, who is the communications lead of his Patriotic League of Uganda, yielded reports of “progress”. Also present were NMG owner and Tanzanian billionaire Rostam Aziz, NMG Group Managing Director and CEO Geoffrey Odundo, and Group Editor-in-Chief Joe Ageyo (both flying in from Nairobi), as well as Monitor Managing Editor Allan Chekwech and other officials. While some agreements on reopening were reached, the shutdown is entering its second week with no official return date in sight.
Explaining why the hammer fell on the Monitor and NTV, Mwenda, alongside Alan Kasujja, head of the government Media Centre and spokesperson, told me the closures had the president’s blessing. Kasujja added that the state’s grievances against the outlets “are many, held for long, and have just burst to the surface.”
At 82 and in power since 1986, Museveni faces the classic authoritarian dilemma of succession. With state outlets faltering, independent media platforms have become unusually influential; silencing them is part of a wider contraction of critical space. Opposition veteran Kizza Besigye was already sidelined with treason charges, and Museveni’s main challenger in the January 2026 vote, Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), was driven into exile. Erasing high-profile dissent and independent reporting clears the runway for the president to shape the transition without turbulence.
Many in Kampala assume Museveni is engineering a family dynasty, grooming Muhoozi as successor. For years, the general’s posts broadcast raw presidential ambition. Yet after Museveni chose to stand in 2026, the son publicly stepped back, citing imperfections and pointing instead to his uncle, retired General Salim Saleh—a popular, low-key figure regarded as the “shadow president” —who was running Uganda as the Trinity. Museveni is the father, Muhoozi the son, and Saleh the Holy Spirit.
That shift reveals a clever division of labour: the presidency remains the family estate, and the patriarch shows no sign of stepping aside. By acting as an uncompromising enforcer, the son absorbs domestic and international flak, allowing the ageing president to conserve political capital. The likeable Saleh supplies the goodwill to counter the hate and anger.
Faced with predictable continuity or a volatile enforcer, many Ugandans prefer the familiar father. Godber Tumushabe, Associate Director of the Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies, told me, “Museveni might be using his son to get Ugandans to accept his continued presidency. Essentially, he is saying that between Muhoozi and Museveni, Museveni is the better devil.” Nevertheless, should the son later run for office, he will have raised the cost of entry …